IBD's Income Investing Coverage Gets A Big Makeover

IBD recently introduced a series of enhancements to The Income Investor column that give this class of investors considerably more research.

The daily column has been expanded with a half-dozen charts of income-style stocks. In addition, screens of leading dividend, utility and real estate investment trust stocks are listed.

Utilities are favorites for income seekers because revenues tend to be predictable. REITs by law must pass on most of their profits to shareholders in the form of dividends, which makes them attractive to income investors. The third screen searches for larger companies with solid earnings and dividend profiles.

Income investing is a subsection of the stock market that started winning over more followers when bond yields shrank to minuscule levels.

In all three screens, the goal is to find companies with steady profit growth. The chart action is less important. These are two characteristics that differentiate The Income Investor from other IBD features, which are primarily focused on high-growth stocks.

Steady and growing dividends are another trait of the companies in the income screens. Price, volume and other factors are included in the screens to filter out lower-quality stocks.

The daily column provides a close look at a particular company, its fundamentals, markets and dividend situation.

The charts are much like others found in IBD, displaying weekly price and volume, certain financial figures and IBD ratings. But they have one more piece of data that is useful for this subject matter: the annualized dividend yield. It's boldfaced on the left side of each chart.

Like in the IBD 50, Weekly Review and Big Cap 20, a brief chart analysis appears at the bottom of the charts.

Investors can use the screens to find some opportunities. Yet bear in mind that any company discussed in the column deserves special attention. Sometimes, IBD editors choose to cover dividend-focused exchange-traded funds, or broader topics affecting income investors.

In some cases, a smaller but more dependable dividend is preferable to a larger yield. A tempting yield should not make up for a questionable company outlook or descending share price. Remember, by definition a falling share price results in a higher dividend yield.

Don't assume the screens or the companies covered are buy recommendations. Also, the principle of bottom fishing doesn't work in income investing, or any other approach. Finally, don't confuse income investing with value investing. The latter tries to identify a company's worth, and those trading at a lesser value than they're worth are considered the best investment choices.

IBD recently introduced a series of enhancements to The Income Investor column that give this class of investors considerably more research.

The daily column has been expanded with a half-dozen charts of income-style stocks. In addition, screens of leading dividend, utility and real estate investment trust stocks are listed.

Utilities are favorites for income seekers because revenues tend to be predictable. REITs by law must pass on most of their profits to shareholders in the form of dividends, which makes them attractive to income investors. The third screen searches for larger companies with solid earnings and dividend profiles.

Income investing is a subsection of the stock market that started winning over more followers when bond yields shrank to minuscule levels.

In all three screens, the goal is to find companies with steady profit growth. The chart action is less important. These are two characteristics that differentiate The Income Investor from other IBD features, which are primarily focused on high-growth stocks.

Steady and growing dividends are another trait of the companies in the income screens. Price, volume and other factors are included in the screens to filter out lower-quality stocks.

The daily column provides a close look at a particular company, its fundamentals, markets and dividend situation.

The charts are much like others found in IBD, displaying weekly price and volume, certain financial figures and IBD ratings. But they have one more piece of data that is useful for this subject matter: the annualized dividend yield. It's boldfaced on the left side of each chart.

Like in the IBD 50, Weekly Review and Big Cap 20, a brief chart analysis appears at the bottom of the charts.

Investors can use the screens to find some opportunities. Yet bear in mind that any company discussed in the column deserves special attention. Sometimes, IBD editors choose to cover dividend-focused exchange-traded funds, or broader topics affecting income investors.

In some cases, a smaller but more dependable dividend is preferable to a larger yield. A tempting yield should not make up for a questionable company outlook or descending share price. Remember, by definition a falling share price results in a higher dividend yield.

Don't assume the screens or the companies covered are buy recommendations. Also, the principle of bottom fishing doesn't work in income investing, or any other approach. Finally, don't confuse income investing with value investing. The latter tries to identify a company's worth, and those trading at a lesser value than they're worth are considered the best investment choices.

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